Processed with Capture One Pro
Processed in Lightroom Classic with AI noise reduction.
The never ending choice of processing power. Which is better? I’m not seeing a great deal of difference between Lightroom and Capture One. Paying 199.88 per year for Lightroom and $179 for Capture One. Have gone away from LIghtroom as Capture One has better processing from my Fuji Trans-X files. Which would you choose?
Setting the white balance of an image is more than just if it needs to be warmed up or cooled down. The image may also have a green to magenta tint to it. Watch a Youtube video of someone processing an image. If it’s not a moody night image then the presenter will almost invariably say the image needs to be warmed up a bit. This is especially true if the image has a human in it. For some reason cameras seem to prefer a slight cyan coloration to skin.
Changing the white balance of an image (in raw format please) is straight forward. Find the white balance eyedropper in your image editing weapon of choice and click on an area that should be a neutral gray. The image is evaluated and a change to the Temperature/Kelvin slider is adjusted to remove an incorrect color balance. You can also just pick from the drop down to tell it what kind of balance you want. Daylight, Tungsten or a number of other choiced based on the camera you used.
While most adjustments seemed to be made to the color temperature of an image you also need to be aware of the tint of the image. And what you say is the tint? The tint is for adjusting the green to magenta color cast of the image.
You probably don’t pay a lot of attention to the Tint Slider but it does change when white balance is adjusted and anytime you might want to reduce a green or purple cast to you image. One example would be if someone was sitting next to a large green plant there may be a green cast on their face.
The following image was shot off a bridge where the light was rather interesting. It was shot mid-morning at 10:24 am so the sun was getting pretty high in the sky. Not a golden hour shot at all. I have my Fujifilm X-T2 camera set to auto white balance so it was interesting to see what white balance it used.
Here is the white balance as dictated by the camera.
You will notice that the camera gave this a tint of 14.7. The scale for tint is -50 to +50 with the minus side going towards green and the plus side going towards magenta.
And with the white balance set to daylight.
You can see that there is a purplish color cast with the as shot balance and you will notice that tint is 14.7 which is moving the tint towards the magenta. When we adjust to daylight the tint goes down to 2.1 and we don’t have the shadows being rather purple.
There is nothing wrong with adjusting the white balance Kelvin slider to warm or cool your images to what pleases your eye, just remember you can also adjust the tint for the same reasons.
I’ve been thinking about “Color Grading” a lot lately. Anyone processing photos digitally has so many people giving their opinions on to color grade your images that it can be very confusing about the way to get the best from your still images. The movie industry is the origin of the color grading where it involves a lot of technical terms like Log, S-Log and other things that I have no clue of their meaning. In a movie you use color grading to link the parts of a story by creating an overall feel by using consistent colors to different parts of a movie or to reinforce the images on the screen. For more information on color grading in movies start with this video: Why are Films Shot In Two Colors?
I’d like to put that at the far end of the workflow of developing an image. There are a lot of things you can or should do before you get to that final color grade step. If you do them correctly then you may not need to spend any time at all fixing the color in you images.
The first step you should take is to make sure you monitors are calibrated. Use any of the available hardware tools for to get the color right before you start. I use the Datacolor Spyder X Pro. If you don’t get the colors that you are seeing right then you have no chance of getting them right when you are adjusting them.
All the discussion below assumes that fact that you are shooting in raw for whatever camera system you are using. If you don’t shoot raw then any other discussion about color or color grading is moot as the camera has already decided what you image is going to look like.
Next is using a good color profile for your image. You can start with the color profiles you camera manufacturer provides with each camera. The processed jpg image you see on the back of you camera using one of the profiles that you manufacturer has provided. Standard, Landscape, and Vivid are some of the profiles provided. (Hint: set your camera to Vivid when shooting sunsets). Current versions of Lightroom and Capture One can be set to use the camera profile when importing you images. If you are using Lightroom you may need to explore beyond the standard Adobe Color profile that Lightroom applies as a default. There are a number of other profiles that Adobe provides that may enhance your image.
And then there is color temperature. Getting the white balance right is so important. Cameras today do a pretty good job of getting the white balance correct. Having a correct white balance means that your other colors will look right too. I find it interesting that most of the time I watch someone else process an image they tend to want to “warm the image up a bit”. Cameras may just be leaning a little to the cool side.
If you, like me, is using a Fujifilm Trans-X camara there are a number of film simulations that are provided as profiles you can use. The film simulation that you have your camera set to will be used by Lightroom or Capture One to process the raw files when they are imported. You can also change the profile after import if you find a profile that works better for a particular image.
If you have picked the profile that pleases you then normally you won’t need to do a lot of saturation adjustments. Although it doesn’t hurt to see what the saturation slider does to the image. I’ll leave you to adjusting the contrast, white and black points, clarity, and other such things for another time.
The big thing for me is that if I’ve applied a Fujifilm film simulation to an image I’ve already chosen how I want my image color graded. So I don’t do a lot of further color processing on my images. For the above “Sunset with Blue Sky” image I used the Fujifilm Provia simulation and just lightened and saturated the blues a bit. Other than that it is the sunset I saw that day. It was a great day for sunset images.
I’m trying to switch from Lightroom to Capture One. Mostly because the latest version have incorporated a better engine for processing Fujifilm X files. Because Fujifilm’s X-Trans sensor has a different pattern for capturing raw images then the standard Bayer filter found on most cameras there is a different computation required for demosaicing an image. There has always been issues both real and imagined with Lightroom and processing of Fujifilm Files.
Additionally while the camera profiles provided by Lightroom have always been pleasing to me the close connection between the Fujifilm engineers and the Capture One engineers means that when the profiles are applied in Capture One they are as close as you can get to get the intended color renditions.
So I’ve been experiment with the two software products to see which works better for me. (Your results may vary). I have to admit that I find the interface for Capture One a bit more daunting than Lightroom but then I’ve been using Lightroom a long time.
All well and good that both the will process my raw files. What I’m finding is a problem is a reoccurrence of an earlier issue with sharping the raw image. Lightroom recently changed the default algorithm for sharpening with an increase in Amount fo 40. And I usually don’t even change the amount on most images. Works OK at the defaults. The problem is when you want/need to increase the sharpening Lightroom introduces what some people call “worms” into the image. Not sure you can see it but just changing Amount from 40 to 77 causes all sorts of issues.
You can reduce the issue by reducing the Detail slider towards zero. Except that it also reduces the sharpening. This image is 2:1 section of a moon image and you can see that you get artifacts around areas of contrast change.
For comparison here is the same image of the almost full moon processed in Lightroom and Camera Raw. Image was taken with Fujifilm X-T2 with the XF 100-400mm telephoto lens and 1.4 teleconverter giving a 560mm. The image was cropped down to a 2400 by 2400 mp square.
The Capture One image is sharper to me.
I’ve also noticed other slight variation in the produced images that are not issues just slightly different between the two software packages. One of the stranger ones is that the as shot color temperature is different for each application. Capture One color temperature is a few degrees cooler than Lightroom. I can’t explain that one at all.
It is really impossible to process the same image exactly the same way in both applications so for the most part you are still processing to you personal taste and as long as you are using a calibrated monitor you should get good results out of both applications with Capture One creating the sharper image.
With Google abandoning it’s Nik Software Collection by Google, there are a lot of people trying to duplicate the things they did in Nik in other plugins suites. On1 and MacPhun are two plugin developers that have the ability to do the same image manipulation that the Nik does with varying success.
I’ve purchased and used both suites but have not found that there was much added value to what Nik and especially Color Effects Pro 4.0 did. And if Nik were to continue to be supported (apparently it is already breaking on some hardware and software platforms) I would probably not be looking for a replacement.
As a long time KelbyOne member I just watched a 2 hour class on a new MacPhun product called Luminar Neptune which seems to do some things like the Nik software. This may be because the MacPhun people were involved with developing the original Nik Collection.
I’ve always had a hard time understanding why Nik, MacPhun and ON1 all had separate plugins for different jobs. It gets really confusing when the current products all had different version numbers like Color Effects Pro 4 and Define 2 etc.
Luminar Neptune is a single plugin that combines features of multiple plugins in previous suites. Luminar Neptune can also be run as a stand alone application for developing raw or jpeg images without having to go near Lightroom or Photoshop.
So armed with the recent KelbyOne class and a credit card I purchased Luminar Neptune 1.2.0. If you are a KelbyOne member or a previous owner of other MacPhun software you may be able to get a discount over the current $69 (US) price.
I bought it because it seems like the right time to transition off of the Nik Suite and because the tie in between MacPhun and the Nik Suite before Google. I was hoping that I might be easy to flip over. And it was. Except I went about it in the wrong way.
What I was hoping to do was set up some presets that basically did the same things I was doing on an ongoing basis with Nik. So I started out with a cloud image that I had processed very normally in Lightroom applying the Camera ACROS+R filter for conversion to black and white.
To apply any filters I always import the image into Photoshop as a Smart Object so I can re-manipulate whichever plugins I use if I feel the need (and I usually do). So first I used a action I created to launch Color Effects Pro 4.0 and apply a preset I created based on settings to Pro Contrast and Tonal Contrast that I picked up from a class by Moose Peterson which is also on KelbyOne.
I then made a virtual copy of the image and again passed to Photoshop as a smart object and this time launched the Luminar Neptune plugin. Now it would just be easy if MacPhun had created a filter called Pro Contrast and one called Tonal Contrast so I could just mimic the settings but 1) That might get a negative reaction out of Google. 2) been no fun at all. So the first thing I tried was to see if I could get Luminar to duplicate what I was doing in Nik. And that, in my opinion, is the wrong thing to do. Instead I went my own way using some suggested filters (thanks to Scott Kelby). I used the filters to make the image look like I wanted it to instead of making the image look like the Nik image. There is a lot more crunch in the image with the Luminar plugin than in the Nik one. In fact I was surprised at how soft the Nik processed image was. Look on the right side of the image at the small dark clouds about 1/3 of the way down. I really like what happens to them with the extra crunch.
The Nik software needs to be replaced, it’s not going anywhere and will soon be no more than a boat anchor. If you are using image enhancing software you need to try the different Suites and settle on one that makes sense for you. And don’t just try to duplicate things from the old dead plugin, experiment and see what you can do with the latest and greatest. Both MacPhun and ON1 have trial periods so you can test both of them. I liked the Nik plugins and because of the link to MacPhun1 thru common developers I went that path. Your path may be different and don’t get bogged down in how to exactly duplicate old tech, it’s time to experiment and maybe get something a bit more you.
1I still have an issue with company names that are misspellings but that is again a personal issue.
Image shot with:
I had all but given up on using exposure bracketing on my Fujifilm cameras. I would shoot the standard three frames, regular exposure, +1 and -1 and then use Lightroom’s merge to HDR to build a “High Def” image. Problem was that I could get the same result just taking the normal exposure and by moving the highlight and shadow sliders along with moving the white an black point sliders and get a result that was very similar to the HDR output. The dynamic range of the X-Trans sensors is pretty wide in raw. So why bother?
With newly released version 2.0 of the X-T2 firmware, you can set the camera to take up to 9 exposures to really build a much more “dynamic” image.
This is the final image I developed using the Fujifilm X-T2 and XF 16-55mm F/2.8 R LM WR while waiting to take the train from London to Hogsmead somewhere near Hogwarts School.
Here is how I had my camera set up to shoot the bracketed images.
On the Shooting menu, select drive settings.
Then select BKT Setting
Then BKT Select (Hard to see in my excellent screen captures…)
Once you select AE BKT you can go back one screen and set up the AE Bracket steps
Click on AE BKT
Then Frame/Step Settings. Note below you can set for continuous frames or 1 frame per click. You can also determine the order in which the exposures are made. I have it set to O normal exposure then plus exposures then minus exposures.
You can then select the number of frames to shoot.
And finally the number of steps between exposure. Note on the graphic below that the middle step is not right on 0 as the camera also takes into account any EV adjustments you have made. In my case I have (and usually have) a 2/3 minus EV dialed in.
And here you have the resulting 5 exposures. I think we start to have some captures that we can work with for building interesting HDR images.
Images shot with Fujifilm X-T2 and XF 16-55mm F/2.8 R LM WR
Light is everything and some times it is just too much. This statue in the China Store at Epcot presented some real color balance challenges. There was enough light it just was of several different color temperatures.
The original capture was quite warm with the statue being almost orange. After sampling several different areas this was about the best I could do. I think there was incandescent lights, probably some hot halogen spots and from behind me an open doorway bringing in daylight. As you can see there a a blue cast to most of the statue while the midsection is orange. And then there is the magenta cast on the shoulders. There wasn’t one color temperature that covered all the lights. But is this a throw away image? Nope, time for black and white.
Because this raw file came from a Fujifilm X-T2 I had access to the all the Fujifilm ACROS2 Film Simulation profiles from within Lightroom. For the conversion I used the Acros+G filter simulation.
I have to admit I love color images but sometimes I just have to surrender to the black and white muse. The Fujifilm ACROS simulations are just stunning. The tonal ranges are so mellow. Images you can eat off of.
I applied the ACROS+G simulation right over the above image. I then moved the image into Photoshop as a smart object where I applied Google’s Nik Color Effects Pro 4 to the image for Pro and Tonal Contrast1. Just works.
Images shot with Fujifilm X-T2 and XF 16-55mm F/2.8 R LM WR
1 I got the Pro and Tonal Contrast Recipe from a KelbyOne class on processing aviation images by Moose Peterson. While Moose uses the recipe for bringing out detail on aircraft, it seems to work on just about any image.
2I couldn’t decide if ACROS was supposed to be all caps or not. In lightroom it is so I updated the post to ACROS.
Photography, like most things in life is better when you are confident. I’ve processed several images lately that gave me confidence that I can create the image I see before I press the shutter button. The confidence comes not only from the ability to get the composition correct in camera. It also comes from the camera being able to capture the detail I want. And to present the tonal range the I saw with my eyes.
These images were taken at maybe 4:30 in the afternoon so the light was rather contrasty. I apply the Provia/Standard camera profile to all my imported raw files and add a bit of sharpening as needed. I bracketed the shots to plus 2 stops and minus 2 stops and processed them with Lightroom’s Photo Merge HDR. I also passed them through Photoshop where I applied some Nik Software By Google Color Effects 4 Tonal and Pro Contrast filters.
The images were shot with the Fujifilm X-T2 and XF 16-55mm F2.8 R LM WR lens. I could only have one camera and lens this would be the combination I would chose. The images are only 1600 pixel jpegs but if you click on them you can see the texture in the wings and the texture of the window frames, it’s just spot on.
It is nice to know that you can put the camera to your eye and get the images you see. Gives you confidence.
Lightroom’s Camera Calibration Panel may be the most under discussed feature of the whole Lightroom/Adobe Camera Raw processing engine. Camera calibration allows you to control how Lightroom pre-processes imported raw images. By default the Adobe Standard profile is applied when raw images are imported into the Lightroom catalog. Available profiles depend on the make and model of camera that captured the image. These profiles are active only when processing raw files. When jpeg files are imported the profile assigned in the camera is used to create the jpeg in camera and can not be changed by Lightroom.
Digital cameras come with a set of predefined profiles for processing images you can choose to create jpeg as output to the camera’s SD or compact flash. Some adjustments can be dialed in to allow for more or less contrast, sharpness, and color rendition. Even if you are exporting as a raw file the currently selected profile is applied to the internal jpeg created to display to the camera’s LCD screen.
In a number of cameras the profiles are pretty generic in their description. For instance the Nikon D600 includes the following 5 profiles:
Neutral
Vivid
Monochrome
Portrait
Landscape
Even if you record in raw format the profiles are used and the images are processed to the current camera profile for viewing on the LCD on the back of your camera.
I know a couple of well known photographers who usually just shoot jpegs and do only minimal processing in Photoshop or Lightroom. The in camera processing of images to jpegs can get pretty sophisticated with the modern digital camera. In camera you can use these profiles to determine how the camera software converts the image. The profile may be based on the type of shot it is or it like on the Nikon or can be based on a replication of an analog camera film as provided by Fujifilm.
Actually all cameras always capture in raw mode even if the users chooses to only save the jpeg. Once the image is processed, if saving only the jpeg image, the raw data is thrown away. To me it makes sense to import the images into Lightroom as raw files and apply the camera profiles after import.
If you are using Lightroom to retrieve, catalog and develop your images you gain quite a lot from importing your images in raw format. Lightroom allows you to apply any of the camera profiles to your raw images once you have downloaded them to your computer. Using virtual copies of a single image you can have profiled images for all the available profiles that your camera provides. Applying a different profile does not make any changes any of the develop modules sliders.
Once you enter the Lightroom develop module with your selected raw image you can open the camera profile panel and select any of the profiles. Please note to use the latest Process Engine (right now that is 2012 (Current)).
My Fujifilm X-T1 has the following profiles available:
You can try all the profiles until you find one you are happy with or like I said create virtual copies and apply one to each. Remember the profile is applied to the image without changing any of the develop module sliders so you can have a clean start at making adjustments beyond the applied profile.
But wait there is a better way. You can create presets for each of the profiles. Then you don’t even have to go to the camera profile panel. One advantage to creating the profiles is that when you scroll over a preset it is applied to the Navigator image so you can see how the image will look with any of the presets. You can also apply a preset when importing images so your preferred profile is automatically applied to each imported image.
To create a preset go to the Develop Module and click on the plus (+) sign next to the Preset Panel to add a new preset. The New Develop Preset dialog will display. I would suggest you create a folder for the presets for each camera you have. Name the preset with the profile name. Uncheck all the settings except the Process Version and Calibration check boxes. Click the create button and the preset will be added to the Preset panel under the folder name you created.
The advantages to processing images from a raw file are many. Applying camera profiles as provided by the manufacturer is a great starting point for getting the most out of the image. Here is the same raw photo with 4 different profiles applied.
